Very well executed

A Major Disappointment

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

The title says it all, a 80's buddy cop film mixed with a dash of army of darkness. Someone is reanimating the dead and using them to commit crimes.When a detective is killed on the job, his friend uses a machine to bring him back from the dead. Now the chase is on as they search for the person responsible.

Zombies are big on entertainment value. To be honest, it would be pretty difficult to make a zombie film that isn't entertaining. The subject is just so visual, so visceral, that it embodies the cinematic medium perfectly. So there aren't - or should I say weren't - many crappy zombie films in the history of cinema, and even those that are poor – like Bruno Mattei's efforts – still have an intrinsic entertainment value to them. Conversely, the genre holds lots of classics, and the excellent 1985 film RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD opened the floodgates for zombie-comedy hybrids.This is one of those films. Although it bears superficial similarities to the Dan O'Bannon movie (especially the reanimated creatures), this is closer in plot to the 1950s thriller classic, D. O. A., which was about a detective who took a slow-acting poison and then had a certain number of hours to solve his own murder before it killed him. Personally, I think that's one of the best plots ever, and DEAD HEAT goes for the obvious and takes it one further: a zombie cop has to solve his own murder before he rots away to nothingness.On the face of it, this is an extremely cheesy '80s movie, full of big hair, well-muscled guys and more comic one-liners than you can shake a stick at. All of these come courtesy of Saturday NIGHT LIVE comedian Joe Piscopo, here playing a tough, humorous partner to Treat Williams' more stoic police officer. Piscopo reminded me a little of Roddy McDowall in THEY LIVE: he embodies his larger-than-life character and shines at every opportunity. It helps that the script is also genuinely funny. Williams takes the lion's share of acting duties, and manages to humanise what could have been a lifeless (no pun intended) creation.The plot is action-focused throughout and there are plenty of set-pieces, from the arresting bank robbery opening to the OTT climax. Along the way there are multiple encounters with zombie henchmen and the spectacle of Williams actively rotting before our eyes as the storyline progresses. There are problems, too, like gaping plot holes and continuity issues, but these can be easily overlooked because the main thing is that the film's a great deal of fun. It flies past, funny and quirky, and never stops being enjoyable. As an added bonus, three old-timers join the cast list. These are Keye Luke, an Oriental presence in Hollywood since the 1930s and playing a villain for once; Darren McGavin (otherwise known as Kolchak) as a shady senior doctor and, last and best of all, Vincent Price as a mad scientist. This is one of Price's last movies and he certainly looks fragile, but he invests his dialogue with plenty of his usual aplomb.In the end, DEAD HEAT is all about the special effects. These range from bloody squib hits to zombie make-up, but there are a couple of stand-out set pieces that take this beyond the norm for '80s conventions. An intervention in a slaughterhouse full of the living dead becomes an incredible gross-out laugh riot as our heroes are attacked by joints of beef, severed duck heads and slaughtered chicken carcasses (the highlight is when Williams finds himself the victim...of a sentient liver!). Later, a supporting character has a surprise reveal and ends up literally rotting away to nothing courtesy of some very gross FX work. These moments are as insanely entertaining as the likes of RE-ANIMATOR and SOCIETY and so deserve special mention. They serve to add to the film's appeal no end, making DEAD HEAT a minor classic of the genre and a film that's endlessly rewatchable.

From the editor of "The Terminator" and the brother of the creator of "Lethal Weapon" comes a cinematic experience you don't see every day…a buddy cop action comedy, but with mutated zombies. Whether you think a film that mashes two completely different genres couldn't be ridiculous, then you're guess is as good as mine.Vicious crooks that can't die are murdering innocent Los Angelinos, and wisecracking, trigger-happy LAPD detectives Mortis and Bigelow are the only pair qualified for the case. After Mortis is unexpectedly killed, Bigelow soon learns about a pharmaceutical company's 'resurrection machine' that turns his partner into the living dead. Now that the plot description is taking care of, let's talk about the eclectic cast that made "Dead Heat" watchable to begin with.Already established as a serious actor, Treat Williams is certainly a treat (sorry for the pun) as the undead cop Roger Mortis. Delivering his dialog with such deadpan wittiness, Treat becomes cooler even when he survives multiple gunshot wounds and a deadly ambulance crash. Playing Mortis' muscle-bound partner Doug Bigelow is not a stretch for current MIA Joe Piscopo. Whenever his cracks succeed "We have something on the monitor, Captain," others fail "You ought a write fortune cookies, pal." Lindsay Frost (known for "The Ring") is appealingly striking as the soon-to-be ill-fated love interest Randi James. While Darren McGavin and Keye Luke excel fine as the two villains, horror legend Vincent Price makes a stand-out appearance as the inventor. His performance was brief, but graceful just as Price was nearing the end of his long career.Only in the tubular decade known as the 80's can muster up something ridiculous, yet interesting as a film called "Dead Heat."

Warning: if you can't stand deliberately cheesy low budget genre crossing movies completely aware of their nature and just having fun with their premise, stay clear! "Dead Heat" is admittedly nonsense, but who watches this sort of thing hoping for an intelligent and provocative screenplay? This viewer doesn't. "Dead Heat" is a high old time for those people looking for an action - comedy, a "buddy" cop movie, and a zombie horror film all rolled into one. Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo are an engaging odd couple as police detectives Roger Mortis (good one) and Doug Bigelow, pursuing the case of lowlife bad guys who won't stay dead and go about their ordinary business of robbing jewelry stores. Their search leads them to a pharmaceutical company named Dante that's developed a resurrection machine, meaning this thing can bring the dead back to "life". This leads to the biggest spin that "Dead Heat" puts on the buddy cop formula, as one of the buddies is dead! During a heated battle with a many faced monster, Roger gets locked in a decompression room until he expires. Now he's hellbent on getting revenge. Williams plays all of this straight for a while until he starts decomposing, then just really letting loose, while Piscopo is genuinely funny and comes up with some priceless quips. And get a load of this supporting cast: Darren "Kolchak" McGavin as the nefarious Dr. McNab, Keye Luke ("Gremlins") as the villainous Mr. Thule, and Vincent Price in the role of Arthur P. Loudermilk. Price is a delight; it's nice to see that he was still embracing the horror genre and working steadily late in his life and career. Robert Picardo also appears as ineffectual whiner Lt. Herzog, Mel Stewart fills out the clichéd role of the yelling police captain adequately, and lovely ladies Lindsay Frost and Clare Kirkconnell provide fine scenery attractions. Keep an eye out for the cameos by screenwriter and actor Shane Black, brother of this films' screenwriter, Terry Black, wrestler Professor Toru Tanaka as a butcher, and MTV VJ Martha Quinn as a newscaster. Quotable dialogue includes stuff like "You have the right to remain disgusting.", and the film does have a certain energy, coming in at a very reasonable running time of 84 minutes. Steve Johnson's makeup and creature effects are just great, especially when it comes to the ruckus in the butcher shop and the final scene for Frosts' character. As long as one doesn't take this seriously for one second, they can derive some solid entertainment out of this agreeably silly film, the feature directing debut for veteran editor Mark Goldblatt. Eight out of 10.